Momiji
|japanese_name= 紅葉 もみじName printed on Momiji's Gym Clothes for Team attire in Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation. |image1= File:DOA6 Momiji Render.png |caption1= Momiji in Dead or Alive 6 |title2= Playable Character |full_name= Momiji |also_known_as= Dragon Shrine Maiden |first_appearance= Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword (2008) |doa_debut= Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (2013) |martial_art= Hayabusa style aiki-jūjutsu |place_of_birth= Hayabusa Village, Japan |nationality= Japanese |date_of_birth= September 20 |age= 21 |status= Alive |blood_type= Type A |personal_alignment= Good |species= Human |gender= Female ( ) |height= 161 cm (5' 3") |weight= 50 kg (110 lbs.) |measurements= B92 W58 H88 cm (B36" W23" H34") |eye_color= Amber |hair_color= Black |occupations= Kunoichi and Dragon Shrine Maiden |alignments= Hayabusa clan |hobbies= Knitting and reading |food_and_drink= Sushi and yōkan |color= Crimson |relatives= Kureha (older sister) † |friends= Ryu Hayabusa, Rachel |japanese= Yūko Minaguchi |english= Kate Higgins }} Momiji is Ryu Hayabusa's apprentice and the Dragon Shrine Maiden of the Hayabusa clan. Momiji debuted in the 2008 title, Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, though she made her Dead or Alive debut in the 2013 title, Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate. She is the keeper of the Dragons Eye, a sacred jewel that is said to hold the spirit of a mighty dragon. In times of great danger, it is her duty to ensure that the jewel makes its way to Hayabusa, as it enhances the power of his Dragon Sword. History Early life Along with her older sister Kureha, Momiji was raised to be a Dragon Shrine Maiden. She was tasked with keeping the ancient relics passed down to the Hayabusa village from the ancient Dragon lineage and carrying out the shrine maiden's rites and rituals to purify the world of malicious evil forces. Among the relics that the Dragon Shrine Maidens are tasked with guarding is the Eye of the Dragon, a jewel said to contain the souls of the ancient Dragons. Unlike Kureha, Momiji was spared the fate of her older sister during the Dark Dragon Blade Incident. At the time, Momiji was away from the village on an errand only to come back to a ruined village. She was devastated by the loss of the many lives, especially her elder sister. Momiji began training under Ryu as a precaution and ended up becoming a skilled kunoichi along with her shrine maiden abilities for the sake of the Hayabusa village. She supports and follows her master whenever he comes around. New Zack Island Momiji went over to New Zack Island under the pretense that she was invited there by Ryu Hayabusa, namely to take a break from training and go on a vacation. Although Momiji was largely hesitant to comply, both because such was uncharacteristic of Hayabusa to suggest and she had no familiarity of what to do on a tropical island in the first place, she nonetheless complied. Eventually, Momiji upon the end of the vacation decided she had fun during this time, and even felt some relief and realized she must have taken training too seriously. She then realized that the temporary owner of the Island was the one who wrote the invitation in Hayabusa's name, and made clear the owner should not dare try to use Hayabusa's name to trick her again. The Sixth Tournament TBA Venus Islands Momiji went over to the Venus Islands, this time on her own accord, mostly because of her hearing about the Venus Festival that was practiced on the Island to see if her training under Hayabusa paid off. However, she had very little idea as to what the Venus Festival actually entailed other than it possibly alluding to the Roman Goddess of the same name. She eventually met the Owner and became his partner. Although she was largely reluctant after learning that it was about strength and beauty, she nonetheless agreed since it allowed her an excuse to continue training. Character Appearance :See also: Momiji's costumes Momiji is a young Japanese lady with amber eyes and long black hair tied in a topknot style ponytail. She is mostly seen in a relatively modest outfit with a white kunoichi top with red ribboned edges and red kunoichi styled pants that have tassels hanging in the back with black Japanese style heel boots worn at the bottom over the pant sleeves. Her other outfits consist of several ones she wears from Ninja Gaiden, including her secondary jumpsuit outfit and leather variant of her main costume, as well as other ones added as DLC. In Last Round, she is able to wear her hair cut into a short blunt bob cut, and in Xtreme 3, she gains the option to wear her hair down, although it falls to bottom length and is somewhat shorter than what her hair should realistically be when worn down. She can also be seen with her hair down in Last Round in the Fairy Tail DLC, where she dresses as Kagura. Personality Momiji is a very gentle and caring young woman who is seen by the Hayabusa Village children as an older sister figure, whom they look up to. Like her mentor, Ryu Hayabusa, Momiji has a strong will and refuses to accept any vulnerabilities and trains extensively to become one of the deadliest warriors in the Hayabusa Village. Her extreme dedication to her training was such that she at times has a tendency to over-train herself, as can be inferred with her ending in Xtreme 3. Likewise, she's also versatile enough to include other aspects as part of her training, which is best demonstrated in Xtreme Venus Vacation where she participated in the Venus Festival largely because it was an alternate method of training, as well as her giving a similar reason for providing healing softening beauty treatments to girls. She is very polite, even to her opponents, saying to them before a match that it is an honor to meet and combat them. After a match she will thank her opponent or even wish them better luck next time, rather than gloating like many other fighters. However, a slightly mischievous side of her is revealed in her taunts, which have her yawning cutely or sarcastically gasping and complimenting her foe's performance. Largely because she grew up in the mountains, she's fairly unfamiliar with standard hygiene products such as soaps and lotion treatments, as demonstrated in Xtreme Venus Vacation. Etymology Momiji (紅葉) in Japanese means "autumn leaves". Relationships Ryu Hayabusa Momiji is the last of the Hayabusa clan's shrine maidens and Hayabusa's apprentice. After the death of her sister and the massacre of the Hayabusa village during the Dark Dragon Blade incident, she trained under the protege of Ryu Hayabusa. A prodigy in the ninja arts, Momiji has grown to be an exceptional kunoichi in her own right. Enamored with his convictions, Momiji shares Hayabusa's perceptions of virtue and justice, only resorting to deadly violence against her clan's enemies. She looks up to her master with pride as both a mentor and an undying ally, and Hayabusa is equally proud of his disciple and sister-in-arms, having her accompany him on missions. It is also implied that she trained and participated in the fifth annual Dead or Alive Tournament at Hayabusa's request. Likewise, she also heeded "Hayabusa's" request that she go on a vacation, although she did think it was uncharacteristic of him to suggest such (before eventually realizing that the Owner was the one who invited her using his name). Rachel Although they have highly contrasting personalities, Rachel seems to have a friendly relationship with Momiji, perhaps due to their common aim to protect the innocent. They form working partnerships very often and help each other out on their missions. They have a full tag alliance and seem perfectly in synch with one another, proclaiming "Evil, begone!" together in unison for their tag intro. After a match, Momiji says the match goes to them and Rachel voices her approval as they both gaze at each other with respect and admiration for one another. Kasumi Kasumi and Momiji's familiarity is not specified, despite both girls being ninjas and having full respect for Ryu Hayabusa. However, Momiji does call out Kasumi's name during a tag battle. In Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3, it is seen they are close at the very start of the vacation, both bearing 3 musical notes (maximum closeness). In addition, in Venus Vacation, she also had Kasumi aid in a New Year's Card photo session, the latter as one of the models alongside Marie Rose and Kokoro, and even took a fortune with her for the event and commented on the shinto shrine. Kokoro In Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, the two met each other and can be partners in the game. In addition, In Xtreme Venus Vacation, she had her alongside Kasumi and Marie Rose act as models for a New Year's Card photography session, and also provided her with a fortune for the event. Kokoro also interviewed her regarding a questionnaire for the Naked Truth (albeit after Kokoro's more awkward reaction to her about to take a bath). Momiji also admits she admires Kokoro since, although she acts like a big sister to most of the girls on the island, she exudes a lot of innocence as well, and also offered that Kokoro bathe with her similar to the other girls at her village, implying she viewed her like a little sister. Helena Douglas In Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, the two met each other and can be partners in the game. In addition, when meeting up with Helena, she pondered about a rumor about the latter, related to her differing personas on TV and reality, and eventually requested adopting makeup for the Venus Festival, with Helena even allowing her to do makeup sessions during a Pajama Party alongside Misaki to teach them. Marie Rose In Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, the two met each other and can be partners in the game. In addition, In Xtreme Venus Vacation, she had her alongside Kasumi and Marie Rose act as models for a New Year's Card photography session, and also helped teach her about some customs about Yoko life. Gameplay :See also: Momiji's command lists Despite borrowing a few moves from the other ninja characters, Momiji's play style is quite different and distinctive, particularly for her ability to double-jump and perform airborne attacks. Her move set is less diverse than the other ninja, but she compensates with good speed, easy execution, and a wide range of safe moves, making her one of the easiest characters for beginners to pick up and deadly in the hands of experts. She is also a good character to attack from mid to long range distances. She has single-jump and double-jump stances that can be entered from certain strikes, throws and holds to give more options, and has a weaker but easier variant of Hayabusa's Shoho-Izuna ''throw, called the ''Junyo-Izuna, which can form her most damaging juggle if used in an area with a ceiling following a critical burst. She also has two ways to perform her power blow: one from her neutral stance and one while double-jumping. Stats The following are Momiji's official stats as listed in the games. Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3 Even though she doesn't have any friends in the beginning, Momiji is very friendly to everyone on the island, especially Kasumi, and like Hitomi doesn't get lonely, grumpy, or bored on any day. She is a recommendable partner in case the player doesn't have one yet or got rejected by the other girls. While the player's character is Momiji, it is noticeable that certain girls in the game that decrease their friendship notes to 1 due to boredom, loneliness or shyness (e.g. Kasumi, Leifang, Misaki, and Nyotengu) will decrease much slower, especially Nyotengu, which means Momiji has a lot of time to befriend them before their friendship notes turns to one. In beach volleyball, Momiji has a good amount of power to hit the ball quite hard and has great speed to reach the ball. She is a bit slow in recovery when she gets hits by the ball, but she is also good in defense/blocking as she can jump very high. Overall, she is a fairly well-balanced character in beach volleyball. Appearances ''Dead or Alive'' series *''Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate'' (playable, 2013) *''Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade'' (playable, 2013) *''Dead or Alive 5 Last Round'' (playable, 2015) *''Dead or Alive Xtreme 3'' (playable, 2016) *''Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation'' (playable, 2017) *''Dead or Alive 6'' (playable DLC, 2019) Non-''Dead or Alive'' appearances ''Ninja Gaiden'' series Momiji made her debut in Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword, and later in Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. In Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, Momiji is a playable character in the Ninja Trials and Chapter Challenge modes. ''Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce'' Momiji makes a guest appearance in PlayStation 3 version of Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce. She is an NPC that offers three different quests to the player. If the player manages to complete all of the challenges she gives them, they earn the right to wield her Heavenly Dragon Naginata in battle. Its attack pattern is similar to the Polearm move-set that appears in the game but with its own unique special attacks taken straight from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. ''Warriors Orochi 3'' Momiji also appears in ''Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper'', the WiiU port of Warriors Orochi 3. She is added with fellow new character Shennong, as well as along side the characters from the Japan-only PSP port of the game, Seimei Abe and Rachel. Her special stage is the Hayabusa Village merged with Wan Castle. She also appears in [http://koei.wikia.com/wiki/Warriors_Orochi_3_Ultimate Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate], an updated version of Warriors Orochi 3 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In popular culture ''Dead Fantasy'' Momiji appears alongside Hayabusa in the fan-made CG series Dead Fantasy created by Monty Oum. She and Ryu debut in Dead Fantasy V and her main opponent is both Kairi and her nobody, Naminé, from the Kingdom Hearts series. With Oum's death, the series' future is uncertain. Fighting quotes *''Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate'' *''Dead or Alive 5 Last Round'' *''Dead or Alive 6'' Music themes The following are the music themes used for Momiji throughout the series. Gallery :See: Momiji gallery Trivia *Despite being a ninjutsu practitioner like all the shinobi in the series, Momiji also uses principles of aiki-jūjutsu as well, making her the only shinobi in the series to use a different fighting style. *Even though she was added to Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate, it is unknown whether she participated in the tournament or not. Her profile on the official game website, however, states that she does enter in order to test all that she has learned. *Several of Momiji's techniques, such as double jumping and air-charged attacks, come directly from her gameplay in Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. The air-power blow is taken from her ultimate technique and her prayer beads can be used in combat. *Momiji's English voice actor is also the current English voice of Tina Armstrong. *Momiji is the first Ninja Gaiden character to appear in the Dead or Alive Xtreme sub-series. *In Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, she sometimes mentions Sanji. *Rachel and Momiji were initially excluded from Dead or Alive 6, with Shimbori stating that his reason for this was because they hailed from Ninja Gaiden. However, both were later added as DLC characters. **Unlike prior DLC characters in the game, however, they do not appear in story mode. Notes & References External links * *Ninja Gaiden Wiki: Momiji *Koei Wiki: Momiji *Dead Fantasy Wiki: Momiji Navigation boxes Category:Characters Category:Shinobi Category:Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu practitioners Category:Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate playable characters Category:Dead or Alive 5 Last Round playable characters Category:Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 playable characters Category:Dead or Alive 6 DLC characters Category:Female characters